Marubeni-Itochu Steel Establishes Automotive CC in Mexico

Marubeni-Itochu Steel (MISI), Japanese major steel trading house fifty-fifty controlled by Marubeni Corporation and Itochu Corporation, announced on Friday the company establishes a new coil center to process automotive steel sheet in Aguascalientes State, Mexico. MISI plans to start operation of the new coil center in June 2012 with annual processing capacity at 130,000 tonnes with US$ 9 million (approximately 700 million yen) capex. MISI eyes additional US$ 11 million capex for the second phase expansion along Japanese and European car makers’ operations in the region.

The new coil center, MI Metal Processing Mexicana is established with US$ 5 million capital fund wholly invested by MISI Group. The coil center will start operation with one large slitter inside a factory of 4,500 square meters.

Automobile production is rapidly increasing in Mexico for North and South American markets. The annual car production is estimated to have increased by about 10% to 2.56 million units in 2011 from 2010 and forecasted to reach 3.5 million units in 2015. Not only automakers but automotive component makers are aggressively entering or enlarging local operations in Mexico.

MISI decided to construct a new coil center in Aguascalientes State where Nissan Motor plans to establish a new plant. The coil center will construct an additional factory as the second phase expansion in near future along Japanese and European car makers’ local output increase.

This is the second coil center for MISI in Mexico. The coil center holds 10% shares in Maruichi Steel Tube’s new automotive steel pipe factory newly established in Aguascalientes State.